The Paralympic Torch Relay will involve a 24-hour journey from Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the birthplace of the Paralympics, to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium in Stratford with a total of 580 people working in teams of five to carry it to its final destination on August 29.

The five Channel 4 representatives will be Jackie Bullen, Stacey Burns, Jenny Archer, Tony Larkin and Heather Hodge, with the quintet set to cover a combined distance of around half a mile.

Bullen is a voluntary press officer for Goalball UK and mother to women's ParalympicsGB team member Georgie Bullen.

She discovered goalball after taking her daughter to a sports day organised by British Blind Sport and she has since helped raise funds to support training and transport.

It was through this role that she met Stacey Burns, the series producer of Channel 4's Road to London 2012: That Paralympic Show, who nominated her for the Paralympic Torch Relay.

Burns has worked across four series, delivering 40 episodes presented by Ade Adepitan, Rick Edwards and Iwan Thomas.

She was nominated by Deborah Poulton, the project leader for the Paralympics at Channel 4.

Archer (pictured below, left) is coach to double Paralympic wheelchair racing champion David Weir (pictured below, right), one of Britain's biggest London 2012 medal hopes, and was nominated by Channel 4 reporter and former athlete Iwan Thomas.


"I had the pleasure of being coached by Jenny for a feature we filmed on That Paralympic Show and from day one I could see the close respectful bond she had with her athletes," Thomas said.

"The amount of time and dedication she gives is amazing and she is the one who deserves a medal."

Meanwhile, Larkin has been the head coach of the Great Britain/England blind football team since 1997 and has taken the team to seven European Championships, six World Championships and the Beijing 2008 Paralympics.

He was nominated by fellow Torchbearer Burns.

Finally, Hodge is mother to That Paralympic Show's biggest fan Billy Hodge, an eight-year-old who is hemiplegic.

He made a video about Paralympic sport as part of a homework project and his mother sent the video to Channel 4.

The team were moved by what they saw, leading Poulton to nominate Hodge.

Channel 4 was awarded the rights for the London 2012 Paralympics in January 2010 and promises a 400 per cent increase on what was broadcast during Beijing in 2008 by the BBC.

They are also using the Games to raise the awareness of the Paralympics and change how people view disability sport.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
June 2012: Mother of Sam and Oliver Hynd named as London 2012 Paralympic Torchbearer
May 2012: London 2012 names first Paralympic Torchbearers
February 2012: Sleek aluminium London 2012 Paralympic Torch unveiled
January 2012: Sainsbury's offer last opportunity to nominate London 2012 Paralympic Flame bearers
October 2011: Paralympic great Adepitan launches hunt for Paralympic torchbearers